6.29.2012

Chinatown, NYC! Walk through Columbus Park for a cause. The Chinese American Planning Council is holding its biennial Walkathon and Family Day Fair on Sunday, July 22. The theme is "One Community. One Goal. Walk For Our Future," and will be focusing on healthy lifestyles and fundraising for various social service programs, Here's more info:

Catching up on a bunch of the music that recently come my way... Here's the music video for "Heartstrings" by New York-based alternative R&B/indie pop band Mitchell Grey, from their debut full-length album On the Stellar Way. I'm really digging this song. Check it out:

You know what time it is. Time to meet the Angry Reader of the Week, spotlighting you, the very special readers of this website. Over the years, I've been able to connect with a lot of cool folks, and this is a way of showing some appreciation and attention to the people who help make this blog what it is. This week's Angry Reader is filmmaker Mina T. Son.

Well, I definitely saw this one coming. Remember the news that DC Comics was re-introducing Alan Scott, aka Earth 2's Green Lantern, as gay? In the New 52 continuity, the character is not only gay, he's in a relationship with an Asian man named Sam. However, their happiness doesn't last long. Spoilers ahead:

This is incredible. This stunning portrait, by New York-based artist Yumi Yamashita, was made from a wooden white panel, thousands of nails, and a single piece of thread. Whaaaaaat. It's part of a larger project called Constellation. Here's a closer look:

6.28.2012

Check it out. If you're in Southern California, and looking for something fun to do on Sunday night, my buddy PK is celebrating his birthday with a big comedy show. He'll be taping his performance as part of a documentary he's been working on, and he'll be joined by friends Ian Edwards, Walter Hong, George Wang and the Fung Brothers. It's happening on July 1 at the Pasadena Icehouse. Here are some more details about the show:

The White Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders invite you to the Midwest Regional Action Summit, a day of open dialogue where you can engage directly with Obama Administration Officials and learn how they are working to meet the needs of the AAPI community.

It's happening Friday, July 13 at Ohio State University's Meiling Hall. Here are some more details about the event:

Some new music for you... Here's what happens when the Bay Area's Kero One, Korea's Dynamic Duo and L.A.'s own Dumbfoundead get together in Los Angeles and join forces in the studio: "Loves Gonna Getcha." There drop some Korean language up in there, but don't worry, it's subtitled:

Asians behaving badly... stealing-from-the-dead edition! Last week in San Mateo, California, two county workers were arrested for stealing thousands of dollars in cash and other valuables from the estates of dead residents: Former county workers allegedly stole from dead.

Former deputy public administratros Mandy Natchi Yagi and Peter Wong are charged with conspiracy to commit theft from a federally funded program and theft concerning a federally funded program.

They were responsible for administering the assets of residents who die without a will or person willing to act as the estate administrator. They apparently decided the best way to "administer" these assets was to steal them:

Just heard about Geographies of Kinship, the new project from award-winning documentary filmmaker Deann Borshay Liem. She's already made two films about Korean adoption, based on her own experiences, but this time she's exploring the stories of Korean adoptees from around the world.

But of course, in order to get the film made, she needs some cash, so she's started a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds. Here's a video with more information:

This is awesome. In this video, Japanese beatboxer Hikakin joins forces with dancer Marquese Scott, aka Nonstop (maybe you've seen him dancing his ass off in that "Pumped Up Kicks" dubstep video gone viral), to create something totally badass, beautiful, and little bit life-changing. Take a look:

This week, in anticipation of the upcoming U.S. Supreme Court case Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, the Asian Pacific Americans in Higher Education and National Commission on Asian American and Pacific Islander Research in Education released policy papers examining Asian American support for race-conscious admissions policies.

More importantly, the papers call bullshit on the political action group 80-20 National Education Foundation, who recently filed an amicus brief to the Supreme Court claiming that Asian Americans oppose affirmative action by a ratio of 52:1, based on the results of a bullshit web survey. Yes, I said bullshit twice. From AALDEF's press release:

6.27.2012

Los Angeles! Have a laugh the eco-conscious way. Our friend Kristina Wong's Going Green the Wong Way opens on June 28 and weaves comedy with Wong's real-life quest to pursue sustainable living. The show runs through July 22 at the Bootleg Theater:

I recently learned about the death of Sho Funai, a 23-year-old engineer who was killed in a hit-and-run accident in Ocean Beach, San Diego back in March. His family is asking for justice.

The driver, 19-year-old Nikolette Gallo (who was 18 at the time of the accident), struck Sho from behind, left him to die, and only turned herself into police the next day, after seeing news reports about the accident.

Despite admitting to drinking several shots of vodka and smoking marijuana before getting in a car that evening, without sufficient evidence of driving under the influence, Gallo was only charged with a hit-and-run. She pled guilty earlier this month.

Gallo is scheduled to be sentenced on July 26. The judge is apparently "considering probation and some sort of custody or alternatives to custody at the time of sentencing." However, Sho Funai's loved ones are calling for a harsher sentence:

Good stuff! Check out singer/songwriter Clara C's brand new music video for "Fish," the first single from her upcoming sophomore album, due out in September. Another great tune, with some cool special effects and a guest appearance from none other than Harry Shum Jr. Take a look:

But wait! There's more from the world of New York Democratic Primaries... On Tuesday, State Assemblywoman Grace Meng resoundingly won a four-way race to clinch the Democratic nomination for New York's sixth congressional district: Meng Looks To Make History After Primary Win.

Meng defeated fellow Assemblymember Rory Lancman, City Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley and Robert Mittman with 51 percent of the vote. In November, she'll face Republican the Republican nominee, Councilman Daniel J. Halloran III, in the race to replace Rep. Gary Ackerman, who is retiring.

If elected, Grace Meng will become New York City's first Asian American member of Congress. And everybody realizes what a friggin' big deal that would be:

In the latest video from National Film Society, I was invited by Patrick and Steven to present my list of the Top 5 Bruce Lee Movies (Yes, I realize there are really only five to choose from.) This was a lot of fun. Take a look:

Last Saturday commemorated the 30th anniversary of his tragic death, and what does one of his killers have to say today? Yeah, he regrets the whole murdering someone ever happened, but he's "hanging in there."

For those eagerly anticipating next month's premiere of the K-Town reality series -- and don't lie, I know there are many of you out there -- LOUD recently dropped this sneak peek into a typical night in K-Town.

I don't know what's going on here, but according to the description, "Joe and Jasmine got into a pretty epic fight last night...but laughed about it today." It involves a lot of yelling and swearing, and then some more yelling and swearing. Take a look:

Shinagawa won a three way race against Leslie Danks Burke and Melissa Dobson. The Associated Press declared him the winner shortly before 11:00pm, with returns from 589 or the district's 596 precincts showing he had 55 percent of the vote.

He will face off against incumbent Republican Congressman Tom Reed in November:

6.26.2012

New York! Celebrate your history. On Thursday, June 28, the Museum of Chinese in America is commemorating the Chinatown Garment Workers' strike in 1982, during which tens of thousands of workers in union garment factories organized a protest for fair contracts. Come to "We Are One: The 1982 Garment Worker Strike, 30 Years Later," and see an excerpt of Nancy Tong's documentary, Digital Quilt. There's lots more, too:

This weekend in Los Angeles, community members are coming together for a demonstration to protest plans to build a Walmart in Chinatown, which they believe will compromise the neighborhood's integrity as an ethnic and cultural community. It's going down Saturday, June 30. The march begins 9:30am at the Chinatown Metro station. Here's a video that illuminates the issue:

Seriously, nobody hustles harder than Far East Movement. These guys are making music videos faster than I can keep track... Here's the video they recently dropped for their single "Turn Up The Love" featuring Cover Drive. Love the hook on this song. Take a look:

A couple of days ago, we heard that awesome story about the badass jogger who fought back against some teenage gropers. Unfortunately, on the other side of things, we get a story about this creepy dude in Texas...

21-year-old Ji Hun Choi is accused of following a woman for several blocks then trying to grab her when she stepped into her dorm -- all while recording the attack on his cell phone. Fortunately, she was able to fight him off:

This was in big part thanks to the efforts of junior right fielder Robert Refsnyder, who was named Most Outstanding Player of the tournament, hitting .476 with two home runs and five RBIs during the series.

Had to share this awesome image posted on the Stan Winston School of Character Arts Facebook page, found by way of the official Bruce Lee page...

According to the image details, this diorama by Dre Merc using a Hot Toys DX Bruce Lee figure and a Hot Toys Classic Predator figure. So who do you think wins? Throw some nunchucks in the mix and I'd like to see what happens.

64-year-old Hae Soon Lim, known to her friends as June, was found dead inside the Grace Deli on June 14. Police say she had been shot in the neck. Judging from the outpouring of sorrow, grief and support from neighbors, she was well-loved in the community:

6.25.2012

San Francisco, it's happening! Hyphen is celebrating the release of Issue #25 (featuring George Takei!) and its tenth year running on Saturday, June 30. Food! Drinks! Performances! Beats! Party it up at the SOMArts Cultural Center with emcee Nicki Sun. Here's more info:

The Margins, the Asian American Writers' Workshop's freshly launched online magazine, recently announced its very first contest: Hao Nao, Gaokao?

Inspired by China's notoriously difficult national university entrance exam -- the SATs ain't got nothing on the gaokao -- you're invited to exercise creativity and submit your own snappy answers to actual questions from the Chinese exam. And these questions are pretty hardcore:

Have you been watching Fox's MasterChef? You know, the one with the blond guy who shouts all the time? I've only caught a little here and there, but I know this season's breakout star is definitely Christine Ha, who's become a fan favorite for kicking some ass in the kitchen... despite being legally blind. Yup. Here's video clip of her audition from episode one:

We're getting poetic up here. It's about time we kicked off a brand new feature: Angry Poetry Corner, a regular weekly spotlight on the work of API poets, curated by Cara, our Angry Asian Intern. Because you could use a little more poetry in your life.

This one's being passed around a lot today... This is part of an actual advertising campaign by Ukrainian travel agency Multipass, which is attempting to promote travel to Asia. No joke, this is their outdoor poster campaign, which encourages people to view the poster by pulling their eyes back. Yes, the good ol' chink-eye strikes again! Take a look:

The suspect has been identified as 33-year-old Anson Chi, a self-described "author, politician, model, activist and retired engineer" who's had some previous trouble with the law. His writings indicate that he has serious mistrust of the government, but the weirdest part for me is the problems he apparently had with his own ethnicity:

Hey, hip hop heads. Some new music for you... We're pleased to present the official premiere of "This Song" the first ever music video from nerdcore rapper (and friend to this blog) Eugene Ahn, aka Adam WarRock, off of his new mixtape Longshot. Check it out:

This would be a good time in the story to note that Priscilla is kind of a badass. Ms. Dang, who happens to be pretty skilled in kung fu -- she's been taking martial arts lessons at her family's studio since she was 5 -- showed these punkass fools that they messed with the wrong woman:

6.24.2012

'The Man Who Killed Vincent Chin' by Michael Moore: In this Detroit Free Press interview from August 1987, Michael Moore talked to Ronald Ebens, who said he couldn't understand why the Asian American community was angry, and that Vincent Chin "was looking for trouble and got it."

Why Vincent Chin Matters: "Vincent Chin has lived longer in memory than in reality." Chin's murder brought our community together in profound ways, with work that is still ongoing.

Remembering Vincent Chin: "Despite our nation's great progress in advancing civil rights, brutal assaults made more vicious by racial epithets still occur in big cities and small towns. Crosses are still burned on the lawns of people minding their own business. Mosques, synagogues and churches still are desecrated and sometimes destroyed. Incidents that belong only in our history books still appear in the pages of our newspapers."

This week, Congresswoman Judy Chu, Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, introduced a House Resolution (H.Res 698) recognizing the significance of the 30th anniversary of Vincent Chin's death. Here's Rep. Chu's statement on the commemoration and the House resolution:

Heard this news about a hate crime in Oregon... In Grants Pass, a Vietnamese American man says his family is being harassed and bullied by community members, and the police haven't done a damn thing. The last straw came when someone tried to bomb his family's home. Yeah, people apparently still do that: Hate Crime Against Vietnamese Family in Grants Pass.

What's up? It's about time again to meet the Angry Reader of the Week, spotlighting you, the very special readers of this website. Over the years, I've been able to connect with a lot of cool folks, and this is a way of showing some appreciation and attention to the people who help make this blog what it is. This week's Angry Reader is David Lee, aka Rekstizzy.

According to EW, Sanchez will show up sometime during the first half of the show's fourth season for a multi-episode arc. No word on who she'll be playing, but come on, when you've got a girl who can sing like that, you let the girl sing:

Can't call myself much of a Heat fan, and I lost interest in the NBA season a few months ago, but I gotta show some love and congratulations to Coach Erik Spoelstra -- yes, our brethren of Filipino descent -- who led Miami to his first NBA championship win over the Oklahoma City Thunder.

According to police, the gunmen, ages 15-20, lured 60-year-old Zhen Bo Liu to the neighborhood with an order, shot him in the face, and stole his money and food. After eating at a nearby house, they returned to view Liu's body and rummage through this car:

6.21.2012

Heads up, film fans. The 35th Asian American International Film Festival, presented by Asian CineVision, is the nation's longest-running festival of its kind, dedicated to showcasing the best in independent Asian and Asian American film and video.

AAIFF recently announced its special presentation screenings for this year's festival, which kicks off next month in New York. The Opening Night, Centerpiece and Closing Night presentations are: